8:30AM Kick-off and Startup Pitches

After you’ve had a chance to meet the other investors, the day kicks off with pre-screened startups pitching to the entire congregation, like a mini demo day. No questions.

10:00 AM Due Diligence

After pitches, We break out into separate rooms for each startup. You will be assigned to one startup. Each team will come through and have 14 minutes with  the founder, after which the founder will quickly step out, and you will have 3 minutes to provide feedback to the teams. Focus on ONE thing each team did well and ONE thing they could improve. After each team leaves, you’ll give them a score on the judging form. The notes and scores on the judging form are not collected nor distributed! They are for your reference only, particularly helpful later in the day as you give feedback and to ask teams questions later during partner meetings.

12:00PM Vote Round 1: Due Diligence

After the last due diligence session, you will check your notes and rank your teams. Using an online form (the host will email you the link), you will submit your votes for the #1, #2 and #3 teams for the due diligence phase of the competition.

12:10PM Quick Feedback to Founders and Lunch Break

Before lunch, please spend a few minutes giving the founder some feedback about the morning. Then you’ll all head off to lunch together with the other founders and judges.

12:40PM Judge Deal Discussion

After lunch, we will ask the founders to leave, and all the judges will discuss the startups (not the teams). The goal of this session for each judge to hear what the other judges think about all the startups, and in particular, to get caught up on what was said in the due diligence rooms you were not able to observe. j

After this discussion, you should have a pretty good idea of what you would like to see from the teams in terms of their written deliverables (term sheets and written analysis).

1:30PM Written Deliverables and Panel Partner Meetings

From each team, you’ll receive an executive summary of their investment decision, a term sheet summary for one startup and up to 3 pages of attachments. You’ll get a team’s packet just before they enter the room for a Partner Meeting. Each team will come in and have the floor to explain investment decision to the judging panel in a simulated 10-minute partner meeting. Teams are instructed to “own” the meeting but to expect interruptions. There is no prescribed time for Q&A. You may interrupt at any time. PowerPoints are not allowed, as the focus is on the written deliverables.

3:00PM Vote Round 2: Written Deliverables

Once again using the same online form, you will submit your votes for #1, #2 and #3 teams for the written deliverables portion of the judging criteria.

3:20PM Individual Partner Meetings (new in 2022)

These sessions are a combination of feedback and questions. You will rotate through the teams’ study rooms to provide individual feedback and ask any lingering questions you may have (bring your notes!). We’ve told the teams that this is a last chance to “win you over.” You may do any combination of the following:

  • Provide feedback: share what you think they did well or could have done better.
  • Ask questions: clarify any earlier performance issues to make sure you have all you need to vote for your top 3 teams.
  • Share your perspective: talk about how you would have handled this challenge (which startup you would have chosen, what terms you would have offered, what you would have focused on in due diligence…).

4:20PM Vote Round 3: Partner Meetings

Submit your top three choices for the Partner Meetings section of the judging criteria. The winning team will be the one with the most cumulative points.

4:30PM Awards Ceremony

The top 3 teams will be recognized, and the startup with the most term sheets will win “Most VC-Backable Startup” of the region.